WASHINGTON, April 6, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The negotiating team for Southwest material specialists has reached a tentative agreement to amend their current collective bargaining agreement with Southwest Airlines.

The negotiating team is comprised of Teamsters Airline Division International Representatives, local union business agents and rank-and-file committee members. The agreement marks an end to a successful round of negotiations that originally began in September of 2013.

The agreement is a result of bargaining that led to an agreement-in-principle on March 3, 2017. If ratified by the membership, it will include a 20 percent signing bonus, 8 percent pay increases effective on the date of ratification and an average of 27.3 percent pay increases over the lifetime of the agreement. The new agreement also eliminates the two-tier pay scale and the 21-year maximum salary cap by creating a new 11-year scale.

A copy of the highlights and the full tentative agreement will be sent to each member for review, along with a timeline and instructions for voting. The current collective bargaining agreement covers more than 300 material specialists that deliver, store and stock aircraft parts. The agreement covers members of Teamsters Locals 19, 986, 455,104, 781, 769 and 210.

"I am pleased with the ability of the union negotiators and Southwest Airlines to work cooperatively to convert the agreement-in-principal into a tentative agreement, and to do so without entering into the cumbersome federal mediation process," said Capt. David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter on @Teamsters and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.